THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
He did not say simply, “the Spirit,” but “who dwells in you,” in order to comfort his hearers. In explanation of these words he added, “whom you have from God.”
He pointed to the Cause, both to exalt them and to make them fear the greatness of the gift and the mercy of the Giver.
“And you are not your own.” This serves not only as a rebuke, but also as an inducement to virtue. How, he says, can you do whatever you wish?
You have no authority over yourself. In saying this, he does not reject free will.
Just as by the words, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable” (1 Cor 6:12), he does not take freedom from us, so here also.
When he says, “You are not your own,” he does not violate free will. He turns us away from vice and shows the Master's care for us.
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Therefore he adds, “For you were bought with a price” (1 Cor 6:20).
But if I am not my own, how do you require the fulfillment of duties from me? How, as you continue speaking, do you still say, “Therefore glorify God” in your body and in your spirit, “which are God's”?
What then does “You are not your own” mean? What does he wish to instill by this? He wishes to establish us, so that we may not sin or follow the soul's unseemly desires.
We have many unseemly desires, but we must restrain ourselves, and we can. If we could not, exhortation would be useless.
See how he establishes us. Having said, “You are not your own,” he does not then say, “but you are subject to necessity.” He says, “You were bought with a price.”
Why does he speak this way? Someone might say that here he should have shown that we have a Master.
But that is common to us with the pagans. “You were bought with a price” belongs exclusively to us.
He recalls the greatness of the benefaction and the manner of our salvation. He shows that we were redeemed when we were alien to Him, and not simply redeemed, but with a price.
“Therefore glorify,” that is, manifest God in your body and in your spirit.
He teaches not only that we should not commit adultery with the body, but also that in the spirit of the soul we should think nothing corrupt and not drive away grace.
“Which are God's” (1 Cor 6:20). After the word “your,” he adds, “which are God's,” constantly reminding us that everything in us belongs to the Master: body, soul, and spirit.
Some say that by spirit he here means the spiritual gift. When this gift is in us, God is glorified, and it is in us when we have a pure heart.
He called them God's not only because God created them. When they had become alien to Him, He acquired them a second time by the price of the Son's blood.
See how he refers everything to Christ, how he raises us up to heaven.
You, he says, are members of Christ. You are the temple of the Spirit. Therefore do not become members of a harlot.
You dishonor not your own body, because this body is not yours, but Christ's.
By these words he shows the love for mankind of Christ, who made our body His own. At the same time he cuts off our corrupt authority over it.
If your body is not yours, he says, then you have no right to dishonor the body of another, especially when it belongs to the Master, or to defile the temple of the Spirit.
If someone enters the house of a private man and behaves disorderly there, he is subjected to great punishment.
Consider, then, what torment will befall the one who makes the temple of the King a den of thieves.
Keeping all this before you, be ashamed before Him who dwells in you. This is the Comforter.
Fear Him who has been joined to you and made you His own. This is Christ.
Have you not become a member of Christ? Keep this in mind and be chaste.
Consider whose your members were, and whose they have become. Formerly they were members of a harlot, but Christ made them members of His own body.
Therefore you no longer have authority over them, but must serve Him who freed them.
If you had a daughter and, through great folly, sold her to a keeper of harlots for fornication, and the king's son happened to be there, freed her from such slavery, and took her as his wife, then you would no longer have authority to lead her back to the house of debauchery.
This would be so after you had once given and sold her. So it is also with us.
We sold our flesh to the devil, that cruel keeper of harlots. Christ, seeing this, snatched it away and freed it from that evil authority.
Therefore it no longer belongs to us, but to Him who freed it.
No one prevents you from using it as the bride of the King. But if you use it for its former deeds, then you will suffer what such offenders deserve to suffer.
Thus one must adorn it, not dishonor it. You have no authority over the flesh for satisfying corrupt desires, but only for fulfilling the commandments of God.
Consider from what dishonor God delivered it.
Our nature was formerly more dishonorable than any harlot. Robberies, murders, and every corrupt thought entered it and committed adultery with the soul for a small and worthless price, a fleeting pleasure.
The soul, joining itself to corrupt thoughts and deeds, received from them only this reward.